PHILADELPHIA — The collective cream of the second-day crop at the NHL Draft Saturday plays at different ends of the ice but represents one common theme: Ron Hextall is trying to build a different kind of Flyers team.

Second-round selection Nicolas Aube-Kubel and third-round pick Mark Friedman are both 18, both considered a little undersized, but mutually blessed with plenty of skating speed.

As Flyers president Paul Holmgren pointed out Friday, new GM Hextall was intent on stocking the Flyers’ prospect pile with swift skaters, and that’s precisely what he did in the top rounds of this draft.

Aube-Kubel, a two-way forward from Val-d’Or of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, was reputed to have “great wheels and a motor that doesn’t quit” on one hockey evaluation website that specializes in cliches.

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Friedman, Toronto born and bred, spent the past two years toiling for the Waterloo (Iowa) Blackhawks of the United States Hockey League, but will play next year for Bowling Green University. Not an exceptional program, but one that has recruited Friedman for quite some time and feels he’s the kind of offensive defenseman that can boost the team to another level.

“I just can’t wait to get started there, and see what kind of player I’m going to be in college,” Friedman said. Asked what he can improve upon, he added, “All aspects of my game. You can never stop improving.”

Friedman is also known for his skating ability, though he’s not a physical force on the blue line at 5-11, 185.

Aube-Kubel is fleet of foot and is also 5-11 and checks in at 180 pounds. Travis Sanheim, the Flyers’ No. 17 overall selection in the first round Friday night, is another speedy offensive defenseman. He’s on the thin side at 6-3, 181. Plenty of time for him to fill out, too.

Other things Hextall looked for in those top three prospects from this draft aren’t so much about learning and developing.

“I have good hockey sense,” Aube-Kubel said. “And my skating ability is really good. This year I worked hard at being better defensively and at my consistency.”

Like Sanheim before him, Aube-Kubel is also a player that made great strides in his last season. With impressive bursts of speed and a willingness to drive the net, he scored 19 goals and had 42 points in his first 51 games to bolt to a No. 45 ranking in Central Scouting’s mid-term report on North American skaters. All along, he was noted as a player with an upside that had yet to be determined.

“Competitive; (has) speed,” Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said in describing Aube-Kubel in shorthandspeak. “He’s a winger, got some good hands. We think he’s got some upside. The speed factor certainly was talked about.”

As for Friedman, he’s more of a player still finding himself. He said that search extended beyond the ice. He was recruited last year to go to Bowling Green but didn’t attend, instead playing one more season at Waterloo in the USHL, which isn’t on the level of the Canadian Jr. A leagues but has been producing an increasing number of prospects with each passing draft year.

“Next year, I’m going to Bowling Green and we’ll see how things go after the first year,” Friedman said. “I actually had a screw-up in my courses in school and I saw that Waterloo had a few guys drafted last year. So I wanted to come back, and here I am today.”

He said his botching of coursework had much to do with his general sense of immaturity at 17. What a difference a year makes.

“The extra year really helped me out,” Friedman said of his decision to delay college. “I didn’t think my maturity on or off the ice was ready for college yet. You have to realize it. For an 18-year-old, I guess that can be tough. But my mom and dad really sat me down and talked to me and said, ‘This is the best route for you.’ And my coaches all wanted me back. It was all open arms so it was a great decision for me.”

Friedman, who still swears in as a Maple Leafs fan, compared his style of play to Chicago’s Johnny Oduya, though he notes, “he’s not my favorite player.”

He is a model for what the Flyers would like Friedman to shoot for, though.

“I can bring offense and I can bring defense,” Friedman said. “I can be a power play guy, I can be a penalty kill guy and I can be trusted in all situations.”

So the confidence seems solid, the maturity is coming, the talent was apparent to the Flyers. All that’s left for Friedman to do is produce at the college level before his career can start in earnest.

NOTES: In one of the least active trade talk Draft weekends in recent memory, the Flyers did spend a lot of time Thursday and Friday trying to move up, but they didn’t do a thing Saturday except draft five guys that may or may not make news someday. “Somebody else has got to be willing to move,” Hextall said. “A lot of teams try to get up. It’s hard to do. Teams are like, ‘Yeah, yeah. We’ll move back. We’ll move back.’ Then they want the king’s ransom. You’ve got to judge every conversation you have and if something makes sense, you do it. If you don’t, you can’t move up or do something and overpay.” ... One area Hextall didn’t stray far from Paul Holmgren’s last couple of drafts was the hunt for defensive prospects. With the selections of Sanheim Friday night, and Friedman and seventh-round Swedish pick Jesper Pettersson Saturday, make it 11 defenseman in the Flyers’ last 19 draft selections over three years.